Tabla de contenidos para May/June 2025 en Old House Journal

Superseding key-type and rotary-snap switches, the pushbutton switch was introduced ca. 1890 and remained popular for a half century. The last of them were manufactured by Leviton Electrical Co., in the mid-1950s. The tumble (toggle) switch, redesigned for alternating comfort, became the standard. Responding to the emerging restoration market, in 1985, Peter Brevoort of Michigan began manufacturing switches he and an electrical engineer had redesigned to meet modern codes. They look like the originals—and even sound like them, giving a satisfactory little snap when pushed, a feature dating to the old spring-loaded switches that operated on direct current. Today’s switches are UL-listed (120-volt/15 amps/60 Hz) and fit a standard electrical box; they work with both old and new wiring. Switches are fitted with either mother-of-pearl or black buttons. Learn more…

1. COMPOUND MITER SAW No carpenter’s arsenal is complete without a miter saw for precise angled cuts. The 15-amp DWS779 sliding compound miter saw can cut 2x10 dimensional lumber at a 45-degree angle and features an oversized, high-visibility bevel scale with positivity stops. $599. DeWalt, (800) 433-9258, dewalt.com 2. LIFETIME SQUARE Crafted of hardened steel with deep, permanent engravings, the 12" combination square has a precision-ground cast-iron head with 90 and 45 degree faces. The rule is marked with gradations between 1/64" and 1/8". Hardened scriber and spirit level included. Woodcraft, (800) 535-4482, woodcraft.com 3. HANDHELD JIGSAW The Bosch JS470E D-handle jigsaw possesses a low-vibration design for smooth, accurate cuts. Features include a tool-free bladechange system, four orbital action settings for smooth to aggressive cuts, and a dust blower to…

WRONG WAY INVITING WATER Bushes and trees near the foundation or porch structure need water and will soak it up from rain, snow, and sprinklers. The soil becomes saturated. Without plenty of air circulation, building elements get and stay wet and will begin to deteriorate. Porches at ground level, brick and old mortars are particularly susceptible. RIGHT WAY CONSIDER BOTH PLANTS AND HOUSE You may think you’re planting far enough from the building but what about in five or 10 years? Research plants to learn how they grow and spread. Be sure to allow adequate air flow to let the building dry after a soaking. Given the quality of today’s fast-growth construction lumber, you may consider using synthetics and composites for elements in regular contact with rain or soil.…

The 1879 house sits on 15 acres with a significant slope. Not everyone would envision cohesive gardens, given the steep grade, but Jeanne Farewell felt strongly that an Arts & Crafts house should carry the theme outdoors. She saw her landscape as an opportunity to express the philosophy that gave birth to the English Arts & Crafts Movement. Yes, she carried a deep affinity for roses, foxgloves, and other cottage flowers—but her primary goal was to create a link between the living spaces and nature. Jeanne approached the space as a series of rooms. Not only are the “rooms” defined by walllike hedges, fences, and structures, but also they’re furnished with seating and focal points. Craftsmanship is evidenced in the statuary, planters, and seating. The design has a welcoming informality.…

SUCCESS IN NEBRASKA SALVAGE The Junk Jaunt (in Sept.) junkjaunt.com HDWR. PLATING Industrial Plating Inc. omahaplating.com LIGHTING (kit., pantry) Rejuvenation rejuvenation.com FINISHES Gunstock wood stain Minwax minwax.com • polyurethane Varathane by Rust-Oleum rustoleum.com CABINETS Echelon Cabinetry, RFD Sales rfdsales.com FAUCETS Kingston Brass kingstonbrass.com REGISTERS cast iron Reggio Register reggioregister.com Related Resources STAIR DUST CORNERS brass Vintage Hardware and Lighting vintagehardware.com WHITE SUBWAY TILE Clay Squared to Infinity claysquared.com Authentic reproduction of vintage subway tile Heritage Tile heritagetile.com Subway & mosaic tiles GINGERBREAD HOUSES American Porch Architectural Details americanporch.com Porch railings, balusters, spindles, newels in wood or poly Blue Ox Millworks blueoxmill.com Wood carvings, Victorian gingerbread, gable decoration, spandrels, sunbursts corbels, turned posts, mouldings, fancy shingles Durabrac durabrac.com Exterior brackets, rafter tails, knee braces, gable ornaments, balustrades in cellular PVC Fypon Ltd. fypon.com Historically accurate brackets, dentils, rafter tails, pediment ornament…

1. AN IRIS WELCOME Made from natural fiber in a raised, flocked design, the Iris welcome mat from Dard Hunter Studios was inspired by a 1906 book design. The mat has a rubber backing and measures 19" x 29". $47. Things Deco, (212) 362-8961, thingsdeco.com 2. FOR YOUR ROW HOUSE These historically accurate house numbers are the perfect touch for a row-house transom. Set up as a vinyl decal with registration marks, numbers come in 10 typefaces, with or without shadow lines. $29–$30 per number. House Number Lab, housenumberlab.com 3. GINGERBREAD GABLE Missing the gingerbread on your Victorianera house? Add a fanciful gable decoration with a dowel-and-ball spandrel cut from solid, long-lived redwood. A similar piece is about $900. Custom work, too. Mad River Woodworks, (707) 668-5671, madriverwoodworks.com 4.…

The main photo at right shows an 1889 bathroom addition to an 1878 Italianate Victorian house on the West Coast. Aesthetic Movement influences include patterns in the Anaglypta wall covering and narrow border at the ceiling, along with the room’s rich coloration. The corner sink dates to 1889. Other elements had to be re-created: medicine cabinet and toilet were salvaged, the beadboard wainscoting was built from antique carriage doors, and the art window came from a church. This photo ran in a 2002 issue of Old-House Interiors, which later merged with OHJ. The photo below was taken in a 1902 New York City row house, whose recent owners were inspired by the West Coast example. They picked up on the moodiness of deep blue with dark wainscoting and trim, the…

Did someone tell you that yours “is a Sears house”? Did they mean literally a house purchased as a kit from Sears, Roebuck—or were they using the term generically to mean a catalog, kit, or mail-order house? Is it even true? Houses ordered by mail were big business in the first quarter of the 20th century, when companies like Sears, Aladdin, Gordon–Van Tine, Sterling, and Montgomery Ward sold kit homes by the railcar-load. (These houses are often clustered in areas that had good rail freight service during those decades.) Between 1908 and 1940, Sears alone sold up to 100,000 house kits to homeowners across the country, with 370 designs including bungalows, Foursquares and Prairie-style homes; Georgian Revivals, Dutch Colonials, and Cape Cods; Tudor Revivals and Mediterranean styles. The kit houses, in…

1. ROSY CLIMBER Inspired by the rose trellis at Red House, Trellis (1862) is the first wallpaper William Morris ever designed. This pretrimmed, easy-to-install paper comes in “April” and three other seasonally inspired colorways. $229 per single roll. Bradbury & Bradbury, (707) 746-1900, bradbury.com 2. EGG AND DART The circular plate that holds a doorknob in place, a rosette may be utilitarian or beautiful or both, as is this neoclassical egg-and-dart pattern in sand-cast brass. Available in four finishes; $17.50 per set of two. Charleston Hardware, (866) 958-8626, charlestonhardware.com 3. ROSES ON THE CEILING Plaster enrichments like these hand-cast rosettes enhance a coffered ceiling. Measuring 14 ½" in diameter, pattern #27008 is reinforced with natural fibers. All plaster ornament is sold by phone or email inquiry. Decorators Supply, (800) 792-2093,…

HOW MUCH? Whenit’s afancifulconfection, Gingerbread House is a style unto itself. Less buoyant examples may have a gingerbread element: a sawtooth running band, a screen door with corner spandrels and ball-and-stick fretwork. We associate gingerbread ornament and gingerbread-style houses with the 19th-century Victorian era. That’s because the mid- to late-19th century was the heyday of millwork, especially in the United States and Canada. Wood was abundant, labor cheap. The new mechanical saws and lathes, and the mass manufacture that came with the Industrial Revolution, allowed a burgeoning market for wood embellishments. “Gingerbread” was added to earlier houses, as when the owners added a new front porch. Embelllishment was not new—Greek Revival had its fluted pilasters and Corinthian capitals, Italianate houses their bracketed cornices. Gingerbread, though, signifies applied ornament that may…

After laboriously stripping and refinishing doors and woodwork throughout my 1890s Queen Anne, I’m finally getting to the pièce de résistance: the staircase balustrade and newel posts. This project has taken years! When I’m done, it should look like this artist’s rendition. I already have the antique spelter maidens for the newels. STRIPPING Like the woodwork in the rest of the house, all parts of the staircase had been coated with layers of gloppy paint. What was worse, a previous owner had used a harsh wire brush on it, leaving deep grooves in the wood. I removed the remaining paint on the newel and balusters using a chemical stripper from Jasco. All parts of the staircase are being dismantled and stripped outside. I normally use the low-VOC stripper Smart Strip,…

The 1879 house is unscathed; additions made in the 1940s even strengthened its English Arts & Crafts motifs. A lucky history of stewardship continues with the current owners. It was twenty years ago that a friend told Jeanne Farewell and Monty Denneau about a unique property in New York’s Hudson Valley. The house wasn’t for sale; the friend simply thought that Monty and Jeanne would find a rapport with the 1879 house and its 15 acres. In 2013, as the couple were looking to expand from their petite house, that special property went on the market. The friend had been right; there was instant chemistry. JEANNE AND MONTY have always been more at home in the past but this house had a mystique. Lovingly preserved by previous owners, with many…